


Here for Good

by LuthienLuinwe



Category: DCU, Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Insecurity, M/M, Multi, Stitches, talking through relationship issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26668855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuthienLuinwe/pseuds/LuthienLuinwe
Summary: It's always hard being the third.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Comments: 9
Kudos: 65
Collections: DCU Rarepair Exchange 2020





	Here for Good

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alphaofallcats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphaofallcats/gifts).



Being with Jason and Roy was… difficult. That was the thought running through Tim’s head as he sat in their living room, wrapped in one of Roy’s battered band shirts, staring at the security footage from his laptop, ankle propped up on some cheap throw pillow they’d gotten at some cheap discount store. Everyone knew Red Hood and Arsenal. One of their billboards was right outside the apartment for God’s sake.

But no one ever thought to associate them with Red Robin.

Why would they?

Red Hood and Arsenal were bad boys. Played by their own rules. And Tim? Tim was a rule follower to a T. Something that came in handy. Except when it didn’t.

Listening to their banter, watching them fight together… He would have killed to have been in the mix with them. But, as it stood, his ankle had rolled the exact wrong way earlier that morning. He would have been a liability.

No. It was safer for him to stay at home. To keep an eye on things.

But that didn’t mean he had to like it.

They’d be home any minute. At least then, Tim would be able to breathe a little easier. There were few things worse than watching something unfold, unable to do anything about it.

“ETA?” he asked into his headset. The video feed from Jason’s helmet wasn’t giving much away. Star City streets always had looked the same to him. He’d get used to it, Roy told him. Soon he’d know Star better than Gotham. He just needed to give it a chance.

Tim had wanted to go back, but it was better for Jason to be away from Bruce. At least for now.

_ ‘Two minutes, baby bird,’  _ Roy responded first. Jason was oddly quiet. Usually it was an act of congress to get him to stop talking.  _ ‘Might want to have a med kit ready.’ _

“Do I want to know?” Tim asked, carefully getting to his feet, shifting his weight to his good foot. He limped to the bathroom, pulling the kit out of the medicine cabinet. 

_ ‘Head gash,’  _ Jason answered.  _ ‘Nothing major.’ _

“You know, you saying ‘nothing major,’ isn’t comforting,” Tim spoke, moving back into the living area and setting up a work area. Bright lights? Check. Room to work? Double check. For three young adults with a trust fund, the place was sparse. Easier to pack up and move at a moment’s notice if they needed to.

It was five minutes later that Roy and Jason stepped into the apartment, still in their hero gear. Another day, Tim would have snapped at them. The last thing they needed was some reporter getting info that Red Hood and Arsenal were visiting an apartment owned by Roy Harper and Jason Todd.

Not, Tim couldn’t help but remember, owned by Timothy Drake.

“What did you do?” Tim questioned as he looked Roy over. Blood was trickling down the side of his face from a gash near his forehead. Nothing major. Head wounds bled. 

“Brought a bow to a knife fight,” Roy shrugged as Tim and Jason ushered him into the cheap armchair under the lamp. “How’s the ankle?”   


“Still sprained,” Tim answered. He saw Jason hit the catch on his helmet from the corner of his eye. “And you’re not funny.”

“I’m hysterical,” Roy argued, wincing when Tim pressed a peroxide soaked cotton ball up against the wound. 

“I told you it was a bad idea,” Jason commented, and Roy rolled his eyes.

“You know I don’t listen.”   


“You know I’m still here,” Tim snapped without thinking. 

Roy raised an eyebrow and Jason crossed his arms. “You okay?” Roy asked.

“I’m fine,” Tim responded, tone more cold than he intended it to be. He grabbed a suture kit and got to work on closing the wound.

“You don’t sound fine,” Jason argued.

Tim sighed in frustration as he worked. They had a good thing going. Rationally, he knew Jason and Roy cared. They’d been together six months now. Tim had moved across the country for them. They would have tried to talk him out of it if they didn’t care… right? So how the hell was he supposed to talk about this?

He’d never really liked talking about how he felt.

“I just…” he sighed in frustration as he finished up the stitches. To his credit, Roy hadn't even flinched. “Sometimes it feels like you two are in a club I don’t get to be in.”

He moved back and all but fell into the couch, propping his leg back up above his heart.

Jason frowned and moved to sit beside him. Tim didn’t bother shifting to give him more room. 

“I feel like I’m not important.”

Roy nodded slowly, a serious expression on his face for once in his life. Jason rested a hand on Tim’s thigh. 

A silence hung over them, so thick it would suffocate them all if they let it.

In the end, it was Roy who broke it.

“We’d be disasters without you.” 

Tim frowned at that. It was a good line. But he didn’t believe it. Jason and Roy were close in a way Tim felt he could never reach. That he couldn’t even get close to.

“We’ve just…” Jason started, trailing off before starting again. “This is still new.” Tim nodded and stared down at the floor. 

This was supposed to have been temporary. 

Jason and Roy had wanted to try something new. Tim had been willing to help. And what had been a one-time thing had become a two-time thing. And now? Here they were months later in a place of their own, holding onto something Tim didn’t want to lose. But it was fragile and new and scary and… Tim was glad it hadn't been just a one time thing. 

But that didn't mean it was easy. 

“We’ll do better,” Roy promised, getting up out of the chair and moving to squish himself between Jason and Tim.

“I’m worried you’ll get sick of me,” Tim admitted, voice small.

“Please,” Jason rolled his eyes. He leaned across Roy to plant a quick kiss on Tim’s lips. “We could never get sick of you.”

And maybe for once?

Tim was ready to believe it.


End file.
